Congress promises free/Re.1 kg rice to Tripura`s poor

Agartala: The Congress will provide seven kg rice free of cost to the extremely poor people, 35 kg of rice at the rate of Re.1 to the poor people, and allowances to the jobless youths and farmers in Tripura if voted to the power in the Feb 14 assembly polls.

Releasing the 32-page election manifesto with 321 promises, Congress general secretary and in-charge of northeastern states Luizinho Faleiro told reporters Sunday that the party is confident of coming to power, defeating the ruling Left Front.

"Supply of seven kg free rice to the extremely poor people, 35 kg of rice at the rate of Re.1 to the poor people is aimed to alleviate the poverty of the people," said Faleiro, who was accompanied by the top state Congress leaders.

The manifesto also promises free laptops to meritorious college students and bicycles to poor school students from Class 10 onwards, waiving of agricultural loans up to Rs.30,000 and allowances to all needy categories of people.

The Congress in alliance with the two tribal based parties -- the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura and the National Conference of Tripura -- has fielded candidates in all the 60 assembly constituencies to fight the polls against the Left Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

It said that the 51-page charge sheet, released earlier, against the Left`s "misrule" would also be highlighted during the election campaign.

"We have presented a 22-point charge sheet in the people`s court," said Faleiro, who came here Sunday and left for New Delhi soon after the release of the poll manifesto.

"In the 20 years of uninterrupted rule of Left Front government in Tripura, percentage of poor people, proportion of crimes, underdevelopment and corruptions have increased to a record extent," he claimed, calling it a "classic example" of misrule.

"The Tripura government has got thousands of crores of rupees under the 16 flagship programmes of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government, but the people did not get any benefit from these schemes," said Faleiro, a former Goa chief minister.

He also claimed that 67.78 percent of Tripura`s population was living below the poverty line, against the national average of 27 percent.

The Congress leader said that clean, transparent and corruption free governance would be the priority of the Congress-led government if comes to power in the state.